German

The European cross-border regions of the Greater Region around Luxembourg and the French–Italian–Swiss border arc are among the most integrated labour markets on the continent. At the same time, they remain divided by national education and training systems and national frameworks for the recognition of qualifications. This working paper provides an analytical synthesis of eight contributions presented at a workshop jointly organised by the LABOR SwissLux research group and the UniGR-Center for Border Studies, an Interdisciplinary Center of Expertise, on 9 July 2026. Three main findings emerge. While the statistical assessment is shared by all participants, the category of “shortage” encompasses very different realities: shortages are multidimensional, vary considerably across sectors, are endemic in some cases, and are sensitive both to cyclical shifts and to the still uncertain effects of artificial intelligence. Despite the instruments established at the European level, barriers to the recognition of qualifications have persisted for more than a decade. The emerging responses point to a shift in the prevailing paradigm: from mutual recognition towards the cross-border co-development of qualifications, and from competition towards interregional solidarity, the institutional conditions for which have yet to be established. The working paper concludes by setting out a research and action agenda that combines the harmonisation of indicators, strategic foresight, and an analysis of power asymmetries between territories.

This paper engages with the established use of the concept of bordering in Border Studies and argues that it is often characterised by an insufficient explicit articulation of the underlying processual understandings of borders. Against this background, the paper proposes a heuristic that distinguishes between two ideal-typical approaches to bordering processes: an outward-oriented bordering inspection, which examines the effects of presupposed borders, and an inward-oriented bordering introspection, which reconstructs the border itself as the fabric of social and cultural processes of dis/ordering. This distinction seeks to more precisely situate different epistemic interests, objects of inquiry and methodological approaches within Border Studies and to relate them to one another. Drawing on examples, the paper demonstrates how both perspectives can be combined productively. It conceptualises the plurality of bordering not as a deficit but as an epistemic opportunity, the use of which, however, requires an explicit articulation of the underlying processual understandings of borders.

The concept of “placemaking” is well established in architectural, urban, and regional planning discourse. It refers to processes through which localities become identity-forming – through spatial design, social practices, or symbolic loading. This working paper offers a first theoretical reflection on the transferability and further development of placemaking in cross-border contexts. It focuses on an initial theoretical approach to cross-border placemaking as an analytical lens for describing site-specific transformation processes along national borders. The Pre-IBA Saar-Moselle (2022-2023) is introduced as a research situation: a curated and experimental planning initiative that served to explore the feasibility of establishing an International Building Exhibition (IBA) in the Greater Region, and more specifically in the Saar-Moselle border area. Through temporary stagings of border localities, narrative framings, and architectural formats, a laboratory space was created in which new forms of placemaking at national borders could be tested. Based on this, the paper develops initial analytical elements for a theoretically grounded exploration of cross-border placemaking. In conclusion, it shows how future research based on case studies in the Saar-Moselle region could contribute to conceptual clarification and interdisciplinary development.

As part of the “Common Ground SaarMoselle” project funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation, a cross-border citizens’ advisory council was set up in a pilot phase in the Eurodistrict SaarMoselle in 2024. The aim is to actively involve citizens from Germany and France in the development of future perspectives for the shared border region. In a one-year process, the advisory council consisting of 40 people developed recommendations on key topics in plenary and in-depth meetings. The European Studies working group at Saarland University supported the project with quantitative and qualitative surveys. As the surveys show, the participants of the advisory council rate life in the border region very positively and see personal and social opportunities in the proximity to the neighbouring country. Cooperation is perceived as Europe in action, with the idea of the border region as a “living lab of European integration” meeting with broad approval. At the same time, events such as the Covid-19 pandemic or the reintroduction of border controls in 2024 show that open borders cannot be taken for granted. The work in the advisory council is experienced as enriching in terms of content and interpersonal relationships. The respectful atmosphere, the functioning multilingualism and the opportunity to contribute one’s own ideas are particularly emphasised. A wish was expressed for greater involvement of younger participants. The concrete influence that the work of the advisory council can have on political decisions seems a little too vague. The majority of members expressed their willingness to participate in a cross-border citizens’ advisory council in the future. In this light, the advisory council can be seen as an innovative instrument for more citizen participation in border regions.

European integration has redefined border regions from national peripheries to spaces of opportunity and cooperation. However, social and economic inequalities in their cross-border dimension remain marginal in research on these regions. This thematic issue addresses this gap through the case study of the Greater Region, encompassing Luxembourg, Wallonia, Grand Est, Saarland, and Rhineland-Palatinate. Despite advanced economic integration, the region exhibits stark disparities in income, housing, and public service access. The contributions presented examine how such inequalities shape labour markets, mobility, and social cohesion, while also addressing the shortcomings of current statistical tools to capture transborder dynamics. From the role of wage differentials in driving cross-border work to the housing pressures on surrounding territories, this issue highlights how integration processes can produce both inclusion and exclusion. By focusing on the Greater Region, it contributes to broader debates about inequality beyond national frameworks and underscores the necessity of transnational analytical tools for understanding marginalisation within a unified Europe.

This working paper provides a synthesis of the findings of the 12th UniGR-CBS Border Studies Seminar on the concept of “urgency” in the context of the climate and energy crisis. The seminar focused on research perspectives concerning the relationship between urgency and border delineations, as explored within an interdisciplinary working space from a Franco-German perspective. A key outcome of the seminar was the recognition of the spatio-temporal quality of multiple, ongoing Anthropocene crises in the context of energy system transformations. Talks from various disciplines, addressing different objects of study, all engaged with questions of representation and mobilisation, as well as the challenges of urgency. Finally, this working paper discusses an emerging heuristic of urgency in the context of boundary work. This heuristic not only highlights the relational interplay of spatiality and temporality within the energy and climate crisis but also foregrounds the affective configuration of urgency.

Widespread cross-border activities and relations have moved European integration step by step from what was once the European periphery towards the centre. This Working Paper spotlights the SaarLorLux region and describes cross-border cooperation at grass-roots level, as realized in specific activities in 2024. Relevant data is derived from quantitative surveys at the communal (urban and rural district) level in Saarland, the département Moselle, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, complemented by in-depth interviews with representatives of these bodies. The results show that decision makers at this level associate Europe closely with open borders, the common currency, and solidarity, and hence widely agree with the thesis that border regions are – despite all obstacles – laboratories of European integration. The sense of a joint borderland and of connection with Europe is correspondingly high, especially in districts directly on the border. The advantages of the border situation are real and present to those who live here, but the Covid pandemic has nevertheless left traces that have not yet been entirely erased. In this light, future cross-border cooperation calls for further positive input at the local level to fill the concept of Europe with life.

Abstract -  With 130,000 workers commuting across the Franco-Luxembourg border daily and national policies to transform former steel wastelands into new urban neighbourhoods - Belval in Luxembourg and Micheville in Lorraine - the Franco-Luxembourg border is one of the most functionally integrated borders in the European Union. This functional specialisation of the Greater Region (GR) area - economic activities on one side, residential areas on the other - poses a significant challenge for planning policy (SDTGR, 2020: 12).

This policy paper, which is the result of a study carried out in the context of the European Capital of Culture Esch2022 (2021-2022), shows that while functional attachment to place is the basis of attachment in the cross-border area of Alzette Belval, emotional attachment is also an important democratic resource. A sign of personal projection and a symbolic relationship with the place, its identity and its values, emotional attachment indicates a willingness to stand up for the place, to enhance it and to protect it. This policy paper, based on a field study of 60 local residents, develops a typology of five dynamics of attachment to place and encourages a rethinking of relationships with the Alzette Belval area, which are often categorised as nostalgic or opportunistic. It analyses the relationships between attachment to place, citizen participation and equitable planning, i.e. planning that aims to take greater account of and involve the local population.

The policy paper concludes with some recommendations for local and cross-border policy actors:

• Differences in cross-border development lead to a negative image of the region both inside and outside the Alzette Belval cross-border territory. They affect the sense of place and therefore represent a common challenge for the image of the cross-border territory, local commitment and coexistence.
• For a large part of the new inhabitants, the functional attachment is the basis of their attachment. Threatened by inflation and housing shortages on the Luxembourg side and by inadequate infrastructure on the Lorraine side, it is in the common interest to strengthen it in order to (1) maintain the attractiveness of the area, (2) prevent a further increase in socio-spatial disparities and (3) provide opportunities for the development of emotional attachment.
• The local values of hospitality, solidarity, conviviality and work culture, which have emerged from the region's industrial history and are shared on both sides of the border, strengthen social cohesion. The further promotion of these values through social institutions, cultural, club and sporting events and in public spaces helps to strengthen emotional attachment. This can increase participation and civic engagement and build bridges between new and long-standing residents.